How to Manage Recoil to Improve Accuracy

Shooting accuracy with handguns is a skill that requires a lot of practice. Considering that personal shooting techniques, firing stance, grip and other elements like recoil can also affect handgun accuracy, it’s important to take an exclusive look at your firing technique so you can identify where you need improvement.

Recoil management is one of the areas where most shooters find challenging during the firing process. Remaining in firm control is key to ensuring shooting accuracy and preparing the hand-gun for follow-up shots. Here are some expert tips on how to manage recoil to improve accuracy.

Proper Firing Stance

Many shooters may scoff at the idea that how you stand has something to do with how you shoot. When you come to think of it, a wobbly shooting stance will definitely have an impact on your accuracy. One of the best ways to manage recoil is by practicing a proper firing stance. To manage recoil, lean a little bit forward to ensure a more stable and comfortable stance.

Different variations of foot placement and arm flexing will also help when it comes to managing recoil. Your firing side foot should be slightly behind the support side foot. Your nose, belly button and toes should all be indexed forward towards the shooting target. Once you have established the correct stance, you can now move on to learn more about how to manage recoil.

A Good Grip

The manner in which you hold your handgun and shoot will, in part, determine your accuracy and your reaction to recoil. Handgun recoil can vary greatly depending on the size of the gun and the caliber of the round. The anticipation of recoil is one of the biggest issues that shooters face as it causes a startled reaction that affects the accuracy of a shot. A good grip can help change this.

You’ll want the web between your thumb and trigger finger to be as high as possible on the handgun grip so you can contain the recoil of the slide moving back and forth. Just be careful not to place any part of your hand where the movement of the slide can pinch it! Walk into any local gun shop, and you’ll be advised to grip your handgun as hard as you can for less recoil and better accuracy, of course without being too hard on yourself.

Because of the movement caused by the slide, you’ll also want your forearm to be in line with the handgun to absorb more recoil. With your shooting hand grip now correct, you’ll want to place your other hand at a 45-degree angle between your left hand and the handgun side to maximize your grip (assuming a right-handed shooter). Thumb placement on your dominant shooting hand is a matter of preference. A good hand grip should be steady and firm.

Front Sight Focus

Front sight focus is another critical factor in learning how to manage recoil. Most handguns come equipped with a front sight tip and rear sight aperture that helps you keep your eyes focused on the target. In close-range shooting situations, managing your recoil is critical to ensuring accuracy. As soon as your gun fires, quickly regaining the proper sight focus and alignment helps eliminate any issues caused by recoil.

Achieving the right front sight focus combined with a good grip and proper stance will help improve your firing technique and accuracy. It’s important to also understand that the design of a handgun and trigger control after firing a round can also affect the amount of recoil your pistol produces.